


It Was The Best Night

by waitingondaisies



Series: Non-Hogwarts f/f fics [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/F, Female Harry Potter, Femslash, Femslash February, First Meetings, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Meet-Cute, Party, Party Crashing, eat the rich bb, i mean it is harry what would u expect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:41:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29389983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waitingondaisies/pseuds/waitingondaisies
Summary: Harry was just trying to get home after a long day at work when Ginny quite literally crashed into her. As Ginny was walking Harry home, they caught wind of a yacht party happening that night.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Series: Non-Hogwarts f/f fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198904
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	1. and i said oh my

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MalCrossing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalCrossing/gifts).



> happy bday mal!!! have some ladies in love <3
> 
> recommended listening is "starlight" by taylor swift
> 
> huge thank you to shinie shine for editing!

Harry hurried out of the building, anxious to get as far away from that place as possible. Her shift had just ended at the tourist trap, novelty t-shirt shop where she was working for the summer, and she wanted to get the hell out of there before a customer stopped her for something.

She glanced at the hoards of people crowding the beach, then turned to head the other way, further from the boardwalk and the water. 

Back when she’d first moved here, she’d sworn she’d never get used to the view. That the wonder of the ocean would never wear off on her. 

She’d underestimated the power of working in retail right next to the beach.

Harry sighed and kicked at a rock in her path, a little wistful for those days in the immediate aftermath of her move here. She’d been practically high off the freedom of escaping the Dursleys, the future had never seemed brighter, and everything had felt right in her world. 

Of course, that hadn’t lasted long in the reality of life. Don’t get her wrong, she was still infinitely better off than she had been before she’d left the Dursleys, but life had lost that brief, but glorious, shine. 

Harry hit the button for the crosswalk and leaned against a nearby lamppost for the wait. She scanned the street in front of her, noting the multitude of tourist traps, then she fixed her gaze on the ground before she could accidentally catch anyone’s eye. She heard the sound of someone running, and rolled her eyes to herself, pulling out her phone as she did so. 

Then she was falling to the ground, her hands still too entangled in her pockets to catch her before she hit the ground. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” someone said. 

Harry tried to force her myopic eyes to focus on the person looming over her, and just managed to get an overall impression of ‘ginger’. The woman had red hair, and lots of it. For some reason, Harry’s heart had begun to pound, but she ignored it in favor of her annoyance that this person— probably a tourist— had bowled her over so effectively. 

“Er—” said Harry, still dazed. 

“Here, let me help you up,” the woman said, holding out her hand. 

Harry shifted, preparing to take her arm, but the motion sent a lance of pain through the arm that she landed on. She moaned in pain before she could stop herself. 

“Oh god, I hurt you, didn’t I?” 

Harry shrugged with her uninjured arm and rolled herself into a sitting position, forcing the stranger to back off a bit. 

“I’m fine,” said Harry. “I just hit the ground a bit rough.” 

Harry grit her teeth and began to work her way to her feet. As she did so, the stranger gripped her uninjured elbow and helped tug her upright. 

“Thanks,” Harry muttered, taking a moment to pat herself down for further injuries. From what she could tell, she’d just banged her shoulder up a bit when she fell on the sidewalk. 

“I’m Ginny by the way,” the str—  _ Ginny  _ said, sticking her hand out to shake. 

Harry squinted and took her hand, shaking it just long enough to be polite. Then she started scanning the ground for her glasses, realizing that she ought to have found them while she was still closer to the ground. She’d somehow forgotten about them in her urgency to get up. 

A moment later, Harry was forced to admit defeat. Her glasses had clear frames, rendering them impossible to discern. 

“You knocked my glasses off,” Harry said. “Would you mind helping me find them?” 

“Oh sure, no problem!” Ginny said. 

Harry watched as she bent over and scrutinized the ground. She had to suppress the urge to tap her foot with impatience. 

“Aha!” Ginny exclaimed, straightening. “Here you are.” 

Harry grabbed her glasses and placed them on her face, relieved to have her sight back. She made eye contact with Ginny and was taken aback. Ginny had the warmest, prettiest brown eyes that Harry had ever seen. 

“Er,” said Harry, stunned. 

Ginny was the one to break the eye contact, and Harry couldn’t help but feel relieved. All her previous annoyance at being tripped by a probable-tourist was gone, replaced a single thought echoing around her head:  _ pretty _ . 

Harry shook her head and took a step in the direction of her apartment, only to step on a rock and almost crash to the ground again. Ginny’s hand closed around her elbow, and Harry glanced back at her in shock. 

“That’s it,” Ginny said, releasing Harry’s elbow, “I’m walking you home.” 

“Alright,” Harry said, before her common sense could catch up with her. 

Then they both stood still. 

“I don’t exactly know how to lead the way,” Ginny said. “Or your name for that matter.” 

“Oh, right,” Harry said, pressing the button for the crosswalk again, “my name is Harry, and I live in that direction.” Harry pointed across the street, then stuck her thumb back in her pocket. 

The light came on indicating that they could cross the road safely. Harry took a step forward, managing to not trip this time. Despite Harry’s smooth stride, Ginny seemed to think the danger had not passed for Harry yet, because she linked arms with Harry. The places where their bare skin met tingled pleasantly, so Harry was far from opposed. 

“So where were you going in such a hurry?” Harry asked. 

“Oh, I was just trying to get home. If I’m not home first, my brothers will snag all the good snacks and I’ll have to have the celery my mum always buys but that none of us want to eat.” 

“Then why are you walking me home,” Harry paused to point the direction they needed to turn, “you’re going to be stuck with the celery at this pace!” 

Ginny shrugged with the arm that wasn’t wrapped around Harry’s. “It was far too late for me the second I ran into you, so I may as well do the right thing and make sure you get home safely.” 

Harry smiled. “I am sorry to ruin your afternoon snack, though.”

Ginny pressed herself against Harry’s side. “Don’t worry about it, silly. I was the one to crash into you.”

Harry mouthed the word silly to herself and smiled again at the feel of the word. 

“How far is your place?” Ginny asked.

“Why, are you rethinking your plan to walk me home?” Harry asked in turn, her voice was light, but the question was serious. She would not blame Ginny in the slightest for having second thoughts about walking her home, particularly if they were heading away from Ginny’s home. 

“Absolutely not! I am a woman of my word and—“ 

“Alright, alright,” Harry said, interrupting what promised to be the beginning of quite the tirade. “I was just checking. And to answer your question, I live about a fifteen minute walk in that direction.” Harry did her best to point in the actual direction of her apartment, but managed to smack her arm against a telephone pole, snagging her sleeve on the staple securing a flyer to the pole. 

Harry yanked her arm away, taking the flyer along with the staple that clung stubbornly to her shirt. 

“What do you have there?” Ginny asked, plucking the flyer off of Harry’s shirt. She looked at it for a moment, then snorted. “Fucking rich snobs. I didn’t know they even deigned to advertise on the street.” 

Harry frowned and made grabby hands in the direction of the flier. As Ginny had described, it was a simple advertisement for membership in the local yacht club. Harry snorted and crumpled the sheet up. “What a waste of paper.” 

“Have you ever seen the beach over by their club after one of their fancy yacht parties? Speaking of wastes of paper,” Ginny said with a laugh. 

“But I will admit, those parties do look like they’re a lot of fun,” Harry said, reluctant. 

Ginny crumpled up the flyer and tossed it into a garbage can. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but can you imagine actually going?” 

Harry snorted. “God no.” 

With that, Harry started walking towards her apartment. Ginny caught up within a pace or two, and they were off. They walked in comfortable silence for a block or two before Harry’s hand happened to brush against Ginny’s. Harry blushed, but didn’t move her hand. 

Ginny didn’t move her hand either. 

Every so often, their hands would brush again, and the brief contact would leave behind a tingling sensation in Harry’s skin. Not for the first time, Harry lamented the seriousness of her blatant touch starvation. 

To take her mind off it, Harry glanced around the street and saw they were going by the best local thrift store. She pointed at it. “That’s the best thrift store in the area.”

“I don’t think I’ve been to that one.” 

“Oh that’s a shame,” said Harry, “I can always find the best stuff there for actually good prices. It’s not one of those awful boutiques that calls itself a thrift store despite near retail prices.” 

“Really?” Ginny asked, sounding more enthused now. “I’ll have to check it out sometime then.” 

“You should.”

Harry fell silent again, and the two of them proceeded to walk in silence for another block or two. 

“Ah fuck, hold on, my shoe’s untied,” Ginny said, already in the process of bending over. 

“Alright,” Harry said. She brushed a stray out of her face and groaned internally when the motion led to eye contact with some square in a suit. 

The man sent a withering look at Harry, the look much too reminiscent of Aunt Petunia for comfort. The man was on the phone, so out of spite, Harry took a step in his direction, bringing her into eavesdropping range. 

“...picking up Kimberly’s dress from the dry cleaners. I swear if those lazy immigrants did a shoddy job again, I’ll sue their whole operation. Did you see what they did last time? They didn’t get the wine stain out of the cuff— ridiculous, I know! So if that’s still there, Kimberly and I might be late to the affair tonight—” 

“I’m done,” Ginny said as she stood up. “Harry?” 

“—on the Carltons’ yacht. No? Oh, you’re right it is the Whites’ isn’t it. We’ll be in enough of a time crunch as it is to get there by nine, can you imagine if—”

“Harry?” 

Harry returned to Ginny’s side. “I’m ready.” 

“What was all that about?” Ginny asked. 

Neither of them had moved yet. 

“That jackass is one of the yacht jackasses,” Harry said with a grin. “He seemed offended by my presence, so I decided to inflict more of it on him. Turns out they’ve got one of their ‘affairs’ going on tonight.” 

“Really?” Ginny asked. “What all did you hear?” 

“A lot, actually. It’s tonight, at 9 pm, on the Whites’ boat.” 

“The Whites’? How appropriate.” Ginny hummed, then took a step in the direction they’d been walking, then stopped again. “I have a crazy idea.” 

“What’s that?” 

“Party crashing.” 

Harry blinked, opened her mouth, then closed it again. “Are—” 

“I am so serious,” Ginny said, grinning now. She turned to face Harry and grabbed her hands. “We could totally do this! Think how much fun it would be to trick all of those rich assholes into treating you like one of them!” 

Harry paused, feeling as though she should say no— it was the sensible response, after all. But then she remembered the look this latest square had given her, the look that had only been the latest in a lifetime of attracting disgusted and pitying looks from Petunia and her friends. Harry realized that she had to do it. She hadn’t left the Dursleys to just go back and forth to work everyday, she’d left for freedom, for the right to live her life, and crashing this party would be  _ living _ in a way she hadn’t yet. 

“But how would we even pull it off?” Harry asked. 

Ginny squeezed her hands again. “By faking it ‘til we make it, of course.” 

“Well yes, but that will only get us so far. If we show up looking like this, we’ll be laughed off the boat, assuming we even get onto it in the first place!” 

“Dressed as we are, maybe, but with the right makeup and outfits we could fit right in!” 

“And how do you suggest we afford these outfits and makeup?” Harry asked with disdain. 

Ginny released her hands and turned around. Harry followed suit and saw that Ginny was pointing down the street… at Harry’s favorite thrift store. 

“Oh.” 

“It’s worth a shot is all I’m saying!” Ginny said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me writing more wlw fic? it's more likely than u think! this is just gonna be a couple chapters long and it's already kinda almost done? anyways i plan to finish this before i write the next chapter of hlh and i also have no idea when i'll put the next chapter up bc im an unreliable bitch 
> 
> join my server if u want to try and keep up w me! 
> 
> [LINK HERE](https://discord.gg/9EJ4kgC)
> 
> pls join <33


	2. what a marvelous tune

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Harry said, dumping her bags onto the floor by the door. 

“This is gonna be great,” Ginny said. “Also, your place is fun!” 

Hedwig, Harry’s fluffy, white mutt, ambled into the living room, making a beeline for Ginny the second she noticed the new person. 

“Hedwig, this is Ginny. Ginny, this is Hedwig.” 

“Oh my god, I’m going to steal her,” Ginny exclaimed as she crouched down, hand extended for Hedwig to sniff. 

“Oh, uh.” 

“I’m just kidding, my mum would never let me keep a fluffy, little angel like her around, no she wouldn’t,” Ginny said, her voice devolving into baby talk as she gave Hedwig a belly rub. 

“Well, you’re more than welcome to give her all the attention while you’re here,” Harry said with a smile. 

“Oh I most certainly will do that, yes I will.” 

“Er— didn’t you say that you need to call your mum?” 

“Oh shit, you’re right,” Ginny said, withdrawing her hands from Hedwig and standing. “Where’s your phone?” 

“It’s just in the kitchen,” Harry said. 

Ginny thanked Harry, then went to the kitchen. Harry heard the sounds of her dialing the phone and decided to lay out their outfits for the night on the couch. She was in a sort of daze, still, the rapidity with which they had come up with their plan leaving her little time to process things. 

“—be  _ fine!”  _ Ginny exclaimed, drawing Harry’s attention. “No, I’m not sure when— Mother, please! I’m an adult now, this was just a courtesy call so you wouldn’t worry! I’m hanging up now, I love you, goodbye.” Ginny hung up the phone and came storming out of the kitchen. 

“Is everything alright?” Harry asked. 

Ginny tossed her hair over her shoulder. “It’s fine, my mum’s just a bit of a worrywart.” 

“So…” 

“Oh! You got our dresses out.” Ginny went over and picked one up. “We should probably try and get these wrinkles out before tonight.” 

“Ah, shit,” Harry said, smacking herself in the face. “I don’t have an iron! Or a steamer!” 

Ginny shrugged. “You do have a shower, don’t you?” 

“Well, yes, but—” 

“Then we can just run the shower on hot and steam them that way! Actually, we probably ought to hop in the shower anyways, it’ll make our hair easier to do, I think.” 

“You can use the shower to get wrinkles out?” Harry asked, mystified. She didn’t think that the knowledge would ever have come in handy in the past, since the Dursley’s did have a reliable iron and steamer, but it was odd to realize that she  _ didn’t _ know everything that there was to know about chores. 

“Yup, it’s what my mum does most of the time before events. There’s so many of us, it cuts down on time spent laundering.” 

“I’d never even thought of that.” 

“Well, now you know,” Ginny said. “So, uh, the shower?” 

“Right!” Harry exclaimed. “Do you want to go first?” 

“Sure.” Ginny picked up both dresses by their cheap, thrift store hangers. 

“Let me show you how to work the shower,” Harry said, leading the way to the bathroom. 

Once Harry had shown Ginny the bathroom and instructed her to make free use of the toiletries, Harry retreated out into the living room and retrieved the library book she’d started on the other day but hadn’t gotten around to finishing yet. Despite her determination to focus on the book, the sound of the running shower kept reminding her that Ginny was just through the bathroom door—

Every time her thoughts strayed in that direction, Harry yanked them away and did her level best to focus on her book. 

By the time Ginny came out of the bathroom, dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, Harry had made no progress at all with reading. 

“Bathroom’s all yours,” Ginny said. “You should hurry up so the steam doesn’t escape.”

Harry blinked and had to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes on Ginny’s and from sliding down Ginny’s body. 

“Oh! Real quick, I wanted to ask if you had a button up I could wear until after we do our hair and makeup.” 

“Uh,” Harry repeated. She shoved her hand through her hair and forced herself to focus as best she could. “My room is the last door you haven’t been through, just rummage until you find a shirt. I’ve got plenty of flannels hung up.” Then Harry set her book on the coffee table and hurried into the bathroom without glancing at Ginny again. 

“Alright,” Ginny called after her. 

Once Harry was alone in the bathroom, she took a deep breath and willed her heart to stop pounding. It was time to admit that she had it bad for Ginny. They’d met just that afternoon, and already Harry felt like she’d known her for an era. But despite that feeling, Harry didn’t know anything important about Ginny. 

Like, her relationship status, whether she even liked women. Harry took her glasses off and set them on the counter, then pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes for a moment. She sighed and reached over to get the shower running again. 

* * *

“Do you actually know how to do makeup?” Ginny asked. 

Harry paused in combing her hair. “No… and I’m guessing you don’t either?” 

“Er— I can do eyeliner. Wait— do you  _ have _ any makeup?” 

“Oh. No, I don’t.” 

“We should really have some makeup to fit in with the bougie bitches at the party,” Ginny said.

“Shit, you’re right,” Harry said. She took a step out of the bathroom and leaned over to check the clock in her bedroom. “There’s a drug store just around the block, we can run there and pick some up.” 

“Perfect,” said Ginny, sighing in relief. She ruffled her shoulder-length hair. “We should probably finish with our hair, then go. We don’t want it to dry weird.” 

Harry glanced at Ginny’s short, manageable-looking hair, then made accidental eye contact with Ginny in the mirror. 

Ginny smiled. “Yeah, it’s probably more of an issue for you than it is for me.” 

Harry blushed and picked up her comb again. “I really do like your fringe,” Harry said, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. What a weird thing to say in response to that—

“Thank you! I cut it myself.”

At least Ginny didn’t take it the wrong way. 

“It has that effortless, artsy  _ je nais se quois _ about it, you know?” Harry said, digging herself deeper into that hole. 

Ginny flicked some hair over her shoulder. “Thank you! To be completely honest, I just got sick of it being long one night and cut it all off. But it’s great to hear that it turned out well!” 

Harry smiled at her, then focused on taming her wild hair before she could shove her foot further into her mouth. 

* * *

“This selection is bullshit,” Ginny said. She looked between the only two darker shades of foundation in her hand, then back at Harry. 

“Makeup companies are racist, who knew?” Harry asked, her voice flat and sardonic. 

“Maybe if we just get the darker shade and then mix it with my shade we can make the right color for you?” 

Harry shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” 

Ginny tossed the darker foundation into the basket with her own foundation. The two of them were trying to find all the things they’d need to pass as rich at the yacht party at the corner drug store, and so far they were doing alright. All they needed now was eye shadow and lipstick. 

“So what color lipstick should we get?” Harry asked, turning to survey the lipstick selection. 

Ginny joined her. “Excellent question. Probably not a pink one, I think it’d clash with my dress…” 

Harry nodded, then plucked a dark red off the shelf. “How’s this?” 

“Looks good to me!” 

“Lipstick down, just need some eyeshadow then.” 

“Wait— we should get makeup remover too,” Harry said, a sudden memory of Aunt Petunia needing it to clean her face at the end of the day coming to her.

“Oh shit, you’re so right. Any idea where it is?” 

“I think it’s just in the aisle over, that would make sense at least.” 

Harry tipped her head in the direction and started walking that way. As she turned down the next aisle, she caught wind of the conversation in the next aisle over. 

“— fucking ‘ _ Madam White’ _ . She was truly topping herself at being a royal bitch today.” 

“Is this it?” Ginny asked. 

“Shh,” Harry said, gesturing with her hands for Ginny to quiet down. Then she pointed in the direction the conversation was coming from. 

Ginny quirked her head to the side, but joined Harry in listening without protest. 

“–that’s right, that big party is today isn’t it?” 

“You know it. And since the Whites are hosting it, guess who got to spend all day lugging shit from their house to the boat?” 

The person scoffed. “You.” 

“You betcha. The worst part is that their boat is docked all the way at the damn end, in that special secluded dock, and since I’m ‘the help’, I’m not allowed to use their fancy, schmancy golf carts to get to the end from the entrance.” 

Harry’s heart leapt, and she had to stop herself from letting out a whoop right there in the drug store aisle. 

Ginny grabbed Harry’s hands and started bouncing. 

There was a sound of footsteps and the voices faded away. 

“That’s it! That’s where we’re going tonight!” Ginny whisper-exclaimed. 

Harry nodded her head vigorously, stopping when she became concerned with her neck. “Holy shit, Ginny, this is happening!” 

Ginny slowed to a standstill. “Of course it is! I have a hand in this plan, don’t I?” 

Harry could only grin in response to this. She took in a deep breath to steady her nerves— excited by both the information and the grip Ginny still had on her hands. “Okay, we just need makeup remover and eyeshadow.” 

“Right you are,” Ginny confirmed. She released one of Harry’s hands and towed her the rest of the way down the aisle to where the makeup remover was. 

Harry scanned the available bottles. She realized that if Ginny reached out to take one of them, she’d have to release Harry’s hand. So, Harry grabbed the cheapest bottle of makeup remover off the shelf and reached over to put it directly in the basket Ginny had in the crook of her elbow. She squeezed Ginny’s hand as they walked towards the register. 

* * *

“I still have no idea how to do makeup,” Harry said, staring at their bounty laid out on the bathroom counter. 

“I… can definitely do eyeliner,” Ginny said. “And eyeshadow too probably.” 

“Probably is better than anything I can offer. So, uh, why don’t we muddle through everything else together first, then you can do both our eyes?” 

“That works for me,” Ginny said, reaching for the foundation in her color. 

“I’m gonna go get a plate to mix foundation colors on.” 

“Fucking makeup companies and their goddamned racism,” Ginny said in parting. 

Harry hurried to the kitchen and back. Upon her return, she got to work blending the foundations to try and make something close to her color. Then she and Ginny did their best to apply the makeup in such a way that they would fit in at the yacht party. By the time all but Harry’s eyes were done, Harry thought that they had done rather well for themselves. 

Ginny grabbed the eyeshadow palette and turned to face Harry. There was a long moment of awkward silence before she spoke. “This isn’t going to work.” 

“Why not?” 

“You’re too tall! I won’t be able to get a good angle. And besides, my arms will get very tired if I have to hold them up to do your eyes.” 

Harry frowned, glancing at the slight difference in their heights in the mirror, then shrugged. Of the two of them, Ginny was the one who had experience with doing makeup, so she would know better than Harry would. 

Ginny closed the palette, grabbed it, the brush, and the eyeliner, then walked out of the bathroom. 

Harry followed her into the bedroom. 

“Lie down,” Ginny said, gesturing at the bed with her makeup-filled hands. 

Harry turned to do so, then caught sight of the clock on her bedside table. “Oh  _ fuck _ , we’re running out of time!” 

“Shit, fuck, you’re right,” Ginny said. She hurried to the bedside table, dropping the makeup there. “Grab our dresses!” 

Harry rushed back into the bathroom and retrieved their dresses. She went back to the bedroom and tossed them onto the bed. Then she froze at the sight of the half-naked Ginny standing there. 

“Hand me my dress, then get into yours!” Ginny ordered. 

Harry complied, handing Ginny the red velvet cocktail dress they had purchased for her. Then, before she could overthink it, Harry stripped off the flannel and simple shorts she had worn for their trip to the drugstore. She stepped into the black, velvet dress and pulled it up to her waist. She paused, glanced at Ginny, then turned away from her before unclasping her bra. In a rush, she yanked the dress the rest of the way up over her chest. 

“Hey Ginny?” 

“Need help zipping?” 

“Yes, please.” 

Ginny came around the side of the bed. She put one hand at the base of the zipper, and used the other to pull the zipper up. “Okay, now lie down so I can finish your makeup.” 

Harry complied, careful to be wary of her injured shoulder as she grabbed her pillow and positioned it under her head. 

Ginny hitched her dress up to her hips, then climbed onto the bed with a knee planted on either side of Harry. 

Harry barely noticed as she grabbed the eyeshadow palette from the bedside table. She was too preoccupied with the feel of Ginny’s legs pressed against her body, of the comfortable weight of Ginny looming over her. 

“Do you have any preferences...” 

“Not even a little,” Harry said, not needing to think about it.

“Right.” A bit of Ginny’s tongue stuck out of her mouth as she surveyed the palette. 

A slight smile came to Harry’s face as she stared at the endearing tip. 

“Alright, so I’m going to be poking and prodding near your eye, but I need you to resist the urge to flinch or pull away.” 

Harry nodded. 

With that, Ginny coated the brush in one of the colors and leaned in closer to Harry. Harry’s heart began to pound in her chest with the increased proximity, and she hoped fervently that Ginny could not feel it. 

Then Harry realized that Ginny was just close enough to still be in relative focus, even with her glasses lying forgotten on the bathroom counter. She stared into Ginny’s warm brown eyes, so lost in them that she almost didn’t notice when Ginny began to apply the makeup. Without thinking, Harry tried to blink. 

“Try not to do that,” Ginny admonished. 

“Sorry.” 

Harry found Ginny’s eyes again, and this time, when she lost herself in their depths, she also found herself thinking about the pressure of Ginny’s body against her own. This did not do good things for Harry’s heart rate. Her eyes drifted down to Ginny’s lips then, and she remembered the way Ginny’s tongue had stuck out. 

Her eyes were getting dry from keeping them open for Ginny, and she licked her lips, only realising afterwards that this would not help her eyes. 

The back of Ginny’s hand— the one holding the palette— came down to press on Harry’s chest. 

Harry sucked in a sharp breath at the added pressure and wiggled just a bit. Ginny’s bracelet caught on the fabric and Harry’s dress was pulled to the side. For a terrible, wonderful moment, Harry thought that the dress had been pulled down below her chest. 

“Oh shit, let me fix that,” Ginny said, setting aside the makeup. Then she placed one under Harry’s arm where the material had bunched up, and the other hand in the middle of Harry’s chest where the other side of the dress had drifted to. 

Harry’s eyes went to Ginny’s hand and her breath stopped entirely. 

Then Ginny fixed the dress, rotating it back into place. 

Harry’s eyes drifted upwards again, this time stopping on Ginny’s chest. 

Ginny’s immobile, shapely chest.

As soon as Harry realized what she was staring at, she jerked her gaze up again, making eye contact again. Ginny’s eyes were blown wide open, her pupils so large that Harry could hardly see the warm brown of her irises. 

Then Ginny’s eyes dropped down, to Harry’s lips. 

Harry blinked, and felt herself sitting up, leaning forward, reaching out—

“Oh my god, I need to blend your eyeshadow,” Ginny said, reaching for the makeup once more. 

The moment was broken and Harry flopped back onto the pillow. This time, she forced herself to keep her thoughts out of the gutter and on something innocuous. Like sports! She thought back to the last hockey game she’d managed to catch. 

“I need your opinion real quick,” Ginny said, breaking Harry’s concentration. 

“Oh?” Harry asked, propping herself up on an elbow. 

Ginny thrust the mirror from the eyeshadow palette into her face. “The wings aren’t quite right, but I’m afraid that if I keep going to even them out, you’ll start looking goth and we’ll stand out at the party,” she said, all in a rush. 

Harry looked at her reflection critically, then shrugged. “I’m dark enough that I’m probably gonna stand out a bit anyways— but I feel like an uneven wing is going to be a bit less noticeable, especially behind my glasses.” 

“Oh my god, you’re so right,” Ginny said with relief. She planted a hand by Harry’s chest, then swung her leg over Harry’s body. 

Harry remained frozen, dazed by the sudden absence of Ginny. By the time she had recovered enough to get to her feet, Ginny was pressing her glasses into her hands. 

“We have to go or we’ll be late!” 

Harry shoved her glasses onto her face, glanced at the clock, winced, then hurried after Ginny. She called a goodbye to Hedwig as she locked her apartment door behind her, then hurried to catch back up to Ginny. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading! this fic is now complete so i'll be posting the remaining chapters over the next couple of weeks <3 please don't forget to comment below! if you want to keep up with me, you should join my discord server, linked below! 
> 
> [LINK HERE](https://discord.gg/9EJ4kgC)
> 
> can't wait to talk to you there!


	3. the whole place was dressed to the nines

Harry got off the bus first, then turned to wait for Ginny. 

“Heels were a mistake,” Ginny declared. 

Harry glanced at the pair of red pumps that had seemed so sensible when Ginny had tried them on in the thrift store. Now Harry could see that, with every step, Ginny’s ankles wobbled a little. 

“Oh no,” Harry said, grimacing in sympathy. 

Ginny waved her hand through the air dismissively. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. Now, which way is the party?” 

Harry squinted and glanced both ways down the street. “The ocean’s that way,” she said, pointing. 

Ginny started walking in that direction, this time taking more care with where she stepped. 

With a couple of quick, easy strides, thanks to the comfortable flats she was wearing, Harry was able to catch up to Ginny. Harry wanted to be next to her in case Ginny misstepped and fell. 

“At least that map we checked didn’t make it look like it was too far to get there from the bus stop,” Ginny said. 

“But what about the conversation we heard? It’s apparently a long walk to get to the dock for the boat.” 

“That was for the workers though, remember? We’re guests, they’ll let us on the golf carts,” Ginny said, nudging Harry with her elbow. 

Harry blinked, surprised to realize that Ginny was probably right. She turned this thought over as they walked. She’d worked as a server for— well, her entire life, really. Harry could still remember the first time she’d tried to slip away to get a head start on running from Dudley, only to be pulled back in by Aunt Petunia to serve her tea group. 

And now she had a chance to  _ be _ one of those that she’d always served. She didn’t think she could bear to become one in truth, but just for one night… 

It was like a dream come true. 

A couple more steps later, and they came to an intersection where the street to the right deadended at the ocean. 

“We did it,” said Harry. 

“That was just step one,” Ginny said, “now we need to actually get in.”

“Do you see the parking lot?” 

“Er— I think that’s it, just to the left of the entrance. Why?” 

“That’s where people will be approaching from. We should walk to the parking lot first, then up to the entrance.” 

“Oh! You’re so right,” Ginny said. She grabbed Harry’s hand and started to tow her towards the cars. 

Harry could only stare down at their clasped hands and follow Ginny. Her hand was rough against Harry’s own, their calluses rubbing occasionally. It was a hand Harry could relate to. A hand that was incomparable to any others that Harry may see tonight. 

“Should we have a cover story?” Harry asked. 

“Hmm, we should probably have some details worked out, yeah.” 

“Like how we know each other, that feels like something people might want to know.” 

Ginny glanced at their clasped hands, then sighed. “I don’t think anyone is going to believe that we’re siblings.” 

Harry laughed. “Yeah, probably not. You’re someone’s daughter and I’m your friend from school?” 

“That’s probably the most believable story. And it’s boring which is desirable.” 

They continued to discuss some more minor details, like where Ginny’s parents were (another affair called them away), what school they went to (the private university only a couple of towns away), and how they met (took a class together). 

Before she knew it, they had made their way through most of the parking lot. There was a rich couple some distance ahead of them, and, and glancing back, Harry saw that another couple had filed in behind them. The moment of truth was coming. 

Harry jumped as Ginny shoved an elbow into her ribs. “ _ What _ ?” she hissed. 

“The greeters aren’t checking for anything, I don’t think,” Ginny whispered. 

Harry wished she’d been paying more attention to the interaction between the greeters and the couple in front of them. Now she just had to take Ginny’s word for it and hope she was right. 

“Good evening, ladies,” said the greeter on the right.

“Evening,” Harry replied, doing her best to speak to the greeters the way customers tended to speak to her. It felt gross and wrong, but the act was necessary, at least until they got in. 

“The golf carts are both out ferrying party-goers down to the yacht at the moment, so we’ll have to ask for your patience for a moment,” said the greeter on the left. 

Ginny huffed a sigh and crossed her arms. “Very well.” 

Harry’s eyes widened, but she quickly turned the motion into an eye roll. She had not expected Ginny to pull off ‘petulant’ quite so well. 

The silence stretched on, and Harry began to feel uncomfortable with the awkward silence. Then she remembered how often people had ignored her presence to have a conversation as if she weren’t there. It’d have to be a staged conversation, but anything had to be better than this tense silence. 

“Did you ever finish that paper for econ?” Harry asked. 

“Paper?” Ginny replied, frowning. 

Harry faked a laugh. “Oh my god, did you really forget another paper? And you even started this one this time!” 

Ginny pressed her fingertips to her chin. “Oh heavens,  _ that _ paper—” she glanced at the greeters— ”I did forget about it, but it’s not a big deal. I’ll just pay Jack to do it for me again.” 

“You little minx, you,” Harry gasped. “You said you wouldn’t do that again last time!” 

Ginny smirked and shrugged. “Things change.” 

Harry turned, a half-formed plan to playfully shove Ginny in mind, when she saw a returning golf cart. “Hey, look!” 

Ginny turned to follow Harry’s gaze, and when she saw the golf cart, she stood up straighter. “Finally,” she said with a scoff. 

Harry tucked a stray hair behind her ear and took a step to stand beside Ginny, facing the golf cart. A short time later, and the golf cart was coming to a stop next to them. As soon as it did, Ginny sat down on the back of it, patting the seat for Harry to join her. Harry did so. 

“Alright there, ladies?” the driver asked. 

Harry glanced at Ginny as she rolled her eyes. 

“Indeed,” Ginny said, “and we’re not getting any younger back here.”

“Right-o,” the driver said as the golf cart leapt back into motion. 

Harry grabbed the pole that was supporting the roof of the cart, and she was a bit amazed by just how fast the golf cart could move. She turned to the left, glancing at the vast, moonlit ocean, before turning her gaze to the woman beside her. Ginny’s choppy hair was whipping around in the wind, the moonlight glancing off of it, almost making her look ethereal. 

Then Ginny shifted around to face Harry. “Have you seen the moon?” she asked, shouting to be heard over the rush of the passing wind. 

Harry glanced at it, unsurprised to note that it was stunning that night. “It’s beautiful,” she said, silently adding, ‘but not as beautiful as you.’ 

Ginny grinned and reached out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Harry’s ear. 

The golf cart came to a sudden halt, launching both Harry and Ginny back, towards the front of the golf cart. Harry huffed, then righted herself. 

They had arrived. 

The last boat in the long line of boats was brightly lit and pulsing with the sound of music and conversation. It stood out against the backdrop of the calm ocean, drawing the eye. 

“Ready?” Ginny asked, leaning in close to Harry’s ear. 

The feel of her breath on her ear sent a shudder down Harry’s spine. She nodded. 

Harry got to her feet in unison with Ginny. For a moment, Ginny stumbled, and Harry reached out to steady her with a hand on her elbow. 

“Have a nice night, ladies,” the driver said. 

“You too,” Harry replied, then slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, I can’t believe I said that,” she said under her breath. 

Ginny laughed. “It happens all the time, and you know it.” 

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t embarrassing every time, especially since I know I get a laugh when people do it to me.” 

“To be fair, it is our consolation prize for having to talk to those people at all.” 

Harry released Ginny’s elbow and took a step towards the boarding ramp. She wanted to get this last barrier to crashing the party over with. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she couldn’t stop thinking about how awful it would be to get caught. 

At the end of the ramp, there was an open doorway into the boat itself, and just inside the doorway, Harry could see an employee of some kind waiting to greet them. Harry straightened her spine and lengthened her stride, doing her best to mimic the walk of the rich and confident. 

Behind her, she could hear the sound of Ginny’s heels impacting with the wooden dock. Harry took her first step out onto the ramp and was forced to surreptitiously wipe her damp palms against her dress as another wave of nerves crashed through her. 

Then she was at the top of the ramp. 

“Good evening, ma’ams, the dance floor is just through here and the bar is to the left. Is there anything I can assist you with?” 

“No,” Harry said, stepping past the employee to make room for Ginny to join her. 

“Bar or dancefloor?” Ginny asked, ignoring the employee entirely. 

“Bar.” 

Ginny led the way through the opening to the left and into the small room containing a bar. She walked right up to the bartender, snatched the menu off the bar, and proceeded to ignore the man as she perused the menu. 

The bartender rolled his eyes ever so slightly, but otherwise did not react. 

Harry glanced over her shoulder and saw the couple that had been behind them walk past the entry to the bar and onto the dancefloor. As she stood there, watching the now empty doorway, she half-expected the greeter to come rushing in after her and Ginny, to declare them frauds and toss them out on their heads. 

But that did not happen. 

“Excuse me, I would like a mai tai,” Ginny said, putting the menu back down. 

“And you, ma’am?” the bartender asked. 

Harry froze, realizing she’d been too busy panicking to figure out what she wanted to order. “I’ll also have a mai tai,” she said, not entirely sure what that was. 

“Right away,” the bartender said, turning to begin drink preparation. 

Harry tossed another look over her shoulder, but was startled out of her worry by an elbow to the ribs from Ginny. “Wha—”

“I didn’t realize you liked mai tais,” Ginny said, tilting her head to the side with wide eyes. 

After a moment of consideration, Harry realized that Ginny was trying to stop her from acting so suspicious by constantly checking over her shoulder. She took a deep breath, straightened her posture again, and did her best to release the tension in her shoulders. “I thought I’d get one today, see what you’re always raving about,” Harry said with a smile.

“You won’t be disappointed,” Ginny said. 

“Here’s your drinks, ladies,” the bartender said. 

Harry grabbed the one on the left as Ginny grabbed the one on the right. Harry walked across the bar, through the exit that was opposite the one they had entered, with Ginny trailing behind. 

To her surprise, she stepped out onto the deck, facing the ocean. “Oh,  _ wow _ .” 

Ginny pushed past her to stand at the railing. “It is  _ stunning _ out here tonight.” 

A cool breeze ruffled Harry’s hair and she nodded in agreement. She came to a stop next to Ginny at the railing. “Both the view and the weather.” She took a sip of her mai tai and decided that while it was an alright drink, it was far from her favorite. 

Ginny took a sip of her drink too and sighed in contentment. “What do you think?” she asked, jerking her head in the direction of Harry’s drink. 

Harry took another sip before answering, but the second sip failed to change her initial assessment. “It’s alright,” she said. 

“Have you not been to a bar before? Is that why you ordered the same drink as me?” 

“Er— I’ve had alcohol before, but I’ve never actually been to a bar before, no. But to be honest, I ordered the same thing as you because I was still panicking about—” Harry cut herself off, glancing around for eavesdroppers, but spotted no one. “—about how easily we got in.” 

“I told you it’d be no trouble!” Ginny said with a smug smile. 

“And you were right,” Harry conceded. She swept her gaze down the boat again, realizing that it was a bit odd that there were so few people about. “Where is everybody?” 

“Oh, they’re definitely not here yet because they want to be fashionably late,” Ginny said, liberally applying air quotation marks to the phrase ‘fashionably late’.

“Oh,” Harry replied, tilting her head to the side, “then why did we get here so early?” 

“Because I figure that if we’re here from the very beginning, no one will think to toss us out, because they’ll figure that we must belong here since we’d have been kicked out way sooner if we didn’t.” 

“But wouldn’t it be better to blend in with the packs of people arriving later?” Harry asked, though she had to admit that Ginny’s reasoning was sound. 

Ginny shrugged and sipped at her drink. “That has the risk of us standing out amidst all the actually wealthy people arriving.” 

“Oh shit,” Harry said quietly before drinking her mai tai. 

“And besides, whether arriving later might have been better is moot now, we’re in!” 

Something about hearing Ginny say the words caused the last knot of tension in Harry’s chest to loosen. They  _ had _ made it, so Harry could relax and enjoy herself. And enjoy herself she did, after finishing their mai tais, she and Ginny returned to the bartender. Ginny obtained another mai tai, but Harry ordered a much more palatable mojito. 

As Harry was finishing her mojito, the party was beginning to get into full swing. The dance floor, somewhere across the boat, was pulsing with music loud enough to be felt where they were standing by the railing. Waiters were beginning to circulate, holding platters with hor d'oeuvres and glasses of wine. 

Harry tossed her gaze off to the side where Ginny had disappeared not long ago to find a loo. She still couldn’t see the other woman, but a moment after she had concluded that, she heard what could only be Ginny giggling. Harry stood up straighter, leaning from side to side trying to spot Ginny’s approach. 

There— because of the crowd, Ginny had almost returned before Harry was able to spot her. Then, as Harry made eye contact with her, Ginny stumbled in her heels. Harry lunged forward, grabbing Ginny around the waist before she could fall. 

Moments later, Ginny recovered her balance. 

Harry yanked her hands away as if electrified, wiping them down on her dress to try and dispel the persistent tingling and desperately avoiding eye contact with Ginny. 

Ginny’s hand landed on Harry’s shoulder. “Thank you for catching me.” 

Harry risked a glance up. 

Ginny’s eyes were warm and grateful. 

“You’re welcome.” 

Harry wrenched her eyes from Ginny’s and they landed on her empty mojito glass, sitting on the rail where she’d left it. She needed more alcohol if she was going to make it through the night without making unwanted advances towards Ginny.

“Waiter!” Ginny called, waving towards one of the waiters carrying wine glasses. 

Harry perked up and watched the waiter’s approach with avid interest. As soon as they were close enough, Harry reached out and plucked two glasses off their tray. She could really use both— 

Ginny took one of the glasses out of Harry’s hand. “Thank you,” she said. 

Harry suppressed a sigh, knowing that she probably shouldn’t push her luck with four drinks so fast, but feeling as though she could have used the extra alcohol. “Cheers?” she asked instead. 

Ginny smiled and lifted her glass to Harry’s. 

Their wine glasses made a pleasant chiming sound when they clinked together and Harry smiled in impressed shock. “These must be crystal,” she said. 

Ginny glanced around them, then leaned in to whisper in Harry’s ear. “That means that it’s nice right?” 

Harry shuddered at the feeling of Ginny’s breath on her ear and nodded. 

“Where do you even learn that kind of thing?” Ginny asked in her normal voice. 

Harry frowned and took a sip of her wine before she could just blurt out too much about her childhood with the Dursleys. “I guess I just picked it up somewhere,” she said with a shrug. 

“Cool,” said Ginny, bobbing her head in approval. 

They lapsed into silence for the moment. Harry put her hand over her ear where Ginny had whispered to her. The moment had passed, but she was still feeling its effects. 

“Let’s check out the dance floor,” Ginny suggested. 

For a moment, Harry stood there frozen, the urge to panic and the desire to dance with Ginny warring within her. Then she slammed down the rest of her drink, set the glass on the ground by the rail like others were doing, then held out her hand for Ginny to take. “Let’s do this thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't forget to kudos and comment!!! it means a lot! 
> 
> [LINK HERE](https://discord.gg/9EJ4kgC)
> 
> can't wait to talk to you there!


End file.
